Redefining Cardiovascular Care

Dayton Heart Hospital (DHH) is a 47-bed facility located in Dayton, OH, that provides a full array of cardiovascular services. Diagnostic capabilities include cardiac CT, cardiac cath lab, EP lab, peripheral angiography, nuclear medicine stress testing and cardiovascular ultrasound among others. But it’s been its leadership in adopting a multidepartment PACS that has allowed DHH to redefine and improve cardiovascular care centered on their unique physician-driven, patient-focused care model.
“We knew that the foundation of providing the best possible patient care revolved around access to all relevant exam data,” stated Mark Cooper, Radiology team leader at DHH. “To provide the highest quality care, our physicians need to see that data in one place.”
As part of their research into multidepartment PACS, Cooper’s team identified ScImage as the company that could provide them with the solution to meet their needs. ScImage worked closely with the radiology department, the cardiology department and the surgical staff to accomplish the task of information exchange by changing the rules regarding medical imaging.
PicomEnterprise is the only multidepartment solution that includes clinical applications and utilities for ECG management, echo workflow, cardiac cath workflow, radiology workflow and clinical information exchange. As a result, the radiology department at DHH now has access to images from both inside and outside the facility. The Web server-based PicomEnterprise gives them full fidelity teleradiology capabilities from their office, home or from the road while traveling. Also available with the product suite is a fully integrated Radiology Information System (RIS) for scheduling, billing and reporting that can integrate with industry-recognized leading solutions for digital mammography and computer-aided detection products.
“The main advantage of ScImage PACS is exam distribution. Instead of the clinician coming to the radiology department, we can now take the radiology department to the clinician. Since this system is Web based, it gives us a huge advantage as we read exams both on and off site. Another major advantage is ScImage’s Electronic Patient Folder that allows radiologists and clinicians to have access not only to the current study but also to other related exams,” stated Dr. Cherukuri, medical director of Radiology at DHH.
The cardiology team has seen similar benefits because various types of exam data are now available from the same patient worklist.
“Immediate access any place in the world is the best part of this PACS,” stated Dr. David Joffe, a cardiologist and DHH’s medical director. “Better patient care is the result and the patients absolutely love it. A former, now-retired partner of our group stopped by the office the other day and saw the ScImage PACS. He called it 'truly 21st century medicine.’”
The surgical group is also benefiting — during surgical planning or even during an actual procedure — from being able to access all relevant data from a single location.
“The best part of the ScImage PACS is the convenience,” commented Dr. Rank, a cardiothoracic surgeon at DHH. “It is wonderful in the OR and extremely helpful in the office and soon I will be using it at home.”
“Deploying ScImage’s multidepartment PACS to handle all of the imaging needs of the facility has allowed us to redefine cardiovascular care at Dayton Heart Hospital,” said Cooper.